Ti 




THE 



EARLY SURVEYORS 



AND 



SURVEYING IN ILLINOIS. 



nr 



BY Z. A. ENOS. 



*> 







BEFORE THE ILLINOIS SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS, 
JANUARY 29, 1891. 



Entered in the office of the Librarian of Congress, in 
the year 1891, by Z. A. Eno9. 



SPRTNGFIELD, ILL. 

Springfield Printing Company, Printers and Binders. 

1891. 





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THE EARLY SURVEYORS AND SURYEYING IN ILLINOIS. 



Mr. President: 

In response to this toast I will confine my remarks to 
only a few of the important and interesting events, and the per- 
sons connected with surveying, prior to the year 1860. 

The early county and private Surveyors of Illinois were 
not governed by any fixed rules in making surveys. Usually, 
if called upon to make a survey (for instance) of a half- 
quarter section, they would commence at the government sec- 
tion or quarter section corner of the eighty and run around 
north or south and east or west, (according as the tract 
was located,) 40 by 20 chains, and establish the corners. 
This was generally satisfactory to all parties concerned, for 
land was of little- value, money scarce, and the saving of ex- 
pense a great object. If the owner of the land was certain he 
was on the right tract and in, a rod or so of the lines, that 
was sufficient. But if greater accuracy was demanded, the sur- 
veyor would run the two outside lines of the quarter section and 
make the other two sides of the tract correspond in bearing, and 
proportionally in distance. But in time, as the state became more 
thickly settled and lands more valuable, the practice of: fixing 
the center of a section and subdividing equally from it, became 
more general. Yet this center was made indifferently by the equal 
division of a straight line through the section from the quarter 
corners on the north and south or those on the east and west. In 
1850 the Surveyor General for Illinois and Missouri published 
his "Manual of Instructions to U. S. Deputy Surveyors," with an 
appendix for the use of County Surveyors. This was immedi- 
ately recognized, without any question, as being conclusive 
authority, and generally adopted by the better class of survey- 



ors in the state; until Judge Burt's "Key to the Solar Compass"" 
was introduced, which opened up the whole subject of the 
proper survey and subdivision of the sections and led to much 
discussion, both oral and written, finally resulting in the fol- 
lowing call for a Surveyors' Convention: . 

SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 18th, 1856. 

SIR— The undersigned, Surveyors, in view of the diversity of opinion and practice 
among the Surveyors in the different Counties of the State as to the proper of divi- 
sion of interior and fractional Sections, and the restoration of lost or destroyed Section 
and Quarter-section Corners, and deeming it expedient that an uniform practice should be 
adopted for such surveys, and also that there should be a revision of the tariff of fees, which 
being adopted at early day, when surveying was not attended with the same difficulties 
as now, is therefore inapplicable at the present time, we would suggest that while the law 
is indefinite in many cases, the fees in others are inadequate to the amount of labor to be 
performed; that while it requires the surveyed to be recorded, it provides no remunera- 
tion; that while it requires us to furnish plats and certificates, when called on, it makes no 
provision for our being paid for our trouble; and that while it requires us to survey Coun- 
ty Roads, and furnish plats of them, the remuneration which it allows is altogether inad- 
equate. 

Believing that these objects can be best be obtained, and these defects be best reme- 
edied, by consultation and agreement of the Surveyors, we would therefore suggest the 
propriety of MEETING IN CONVENTION at Springfield, on the 7th day of JANUARY, 1857, 
for the purpose of discussing these and such other matters as may come before the Conven- 
tion, in order to bring the subject before the Legislature at as early a day as possible. 

We would therefore request that, if the above suggestions meet with your approbation, 
you will attend on the occasion, if practicable; and, if unable to attend, you will please 
communicate your views on such matters connected with the profession as you may think 
appropriate to come before the Convention. Respectfully yours, 



r Saner* 



Z. A. ENOS, 

JOSEPH I>EDLIE, 

CORTES FESSENDEN, }■ Sangamon Co. 

J. W AKD, 

H. A. ULFERS, 

ALEX. WOLCOTT, ( ,- - n „„ „ +TT 

CHAS. HERRIKIND, > Cook County. 

TH0S. KING, Jr., ) 

H. N. ESTABROOK, V Tazewell Co. 

J. A. NASON, ) 

J. B. R. SHERRICK, ( „ 

A. T. RISLEY, j" Macon County. 

PETER FOLSOM, McLean County. 

F. H. CHAPMAN, Macoupin Co. 

N. B.... Please forward all communications to the County Surveyor's Office, Springfield. 



The surveyors generally throughout the state responded to 
this call, either in person or by communication, and in pur- 
suance thereof the convention met, organized and entered upon 
the consideration of the several subjects embraced in the call, 
with such others as were presented in the communications, or 
by the members present, covering, in all, most of the mooted 
questions that have since occupied the time and deliberations of 
the permanent organizations in all the states. But nothing 
final or definite was determined at this meeting as to the cor- 
rect manner of subdividing the sections or restoring the lost 
corners. The most generally expressed opinion seemed to favor 
conforming to the instructions given to County Surveyors by 
the Surveyor General for Illinois and Missouri, in his "Manual 
of Instructions." The convention, however, agreed upon a bill 
to amend the law relating to County Surveyors and their fees, 
which was intoduced in the legislature then in session, but it 
failed to become a law. Not discouraged by this failure to 
get the legislative aid desired, and stimulated by the good 
effect to the profession resulting from the first convention, the 
surveyors in 1858 determined to issue another call for a con- 
vention, to be convened in time so as to bring before the 
legislature of 1858-9 such amendments to laws in regard to 
surveyors and fees as might be deemed necessary. The invita- 
tions were printed at Chicago and mailed to all the County 
Surveyors in Illinois. This call is almost an exact copy of 
the first, except dates and signatures, and is as follows: 

CHICAGO, Nov. 22nd, 1858. 

SIR— The undersigned, Surveyors, in view of the diversity of opinion and practice 1 
among the Surveyors in the different Counties of the State as to the proper mode of di- 
viding interior and fractional Sections, and the restoration oi lost or destroyed Section 
and Quarter-section Corners, and deeming it expedient that a uniform practice should be 
adopted for such surveys, and also that there should be a revision of the tariff of fees, 
which being adopted at an early day, when surveying was not attended with the same 
difficulties as now, is therefore inapplicable at the present time; we would suggest that 
while the law is indefinite in many cases, the fees in others are inadequate to the amount 
of labor to be performed; that while it requires the surveys to be recorded, it provides 
no remuneration; that while it requires us to furnish plats and certificates, when called 
on, it makes no provision for our being paid for our trouble; and that while it requires 
us to survey County Roads, and furnish plats for them, the remuneration which it allows 
is altogether inadequate. 

Believing that these objects can best be obtained, and these defects be best remedied, 
by consultation and agreement of the Surveyors, we would therefore suggest the propri- 
ety of MEETING IN CONVENTION on the 5th day of JANUARY, 1859, at Springfield, 
for the purpose of discussing these and such other matters as may come before the Con- 
tention, in order to bring the subject before the Legislature at as early a day as possible. 



We would therefere request that, if the above suggestions meet with your approbation, 
you will attend on the occasion, if practicable, and, if unable to attend, yon will please 
communicate your views on such matters connected with the profession as you may think 
appropriate to come before the Convention. 

Respectfully Yours, 

EDMUND BIXBY, ) 

S. S. GREELEY. VCook County: 

A. F. BRADLEY, ) 



A. J. MATHEWSON. Will County. 

CORTES FESSENDEN ) 

JOSEPH°LEDLTE, [ Sangamon Co. 

H. A. ULFERS, ) 

W. F. WHITMORE, La Salle Co. 

W, L. HORR, 1 

A. G.& G.W.STEVENS. I 

P FOLSOM, 

O, LARKIN, ;- McLean Co. 

J. HALDEMAN, I 

W. H. NEWMAN, 

J. W. AMES, J 

J. L, HANCHETT, Kane Co. 

F. H. CHAPMAN, I Monftlin . n „ 

J.WARD. j- Macoupin Co. 

H. D. HALL, Christian Co. 

HORACE BROOKS, ) 

A. S. JANES, ( D p 

D. F. DEIBEAT, f Vn rage (j °' 

J. G. VALLETTA. ) 

N. B. Please forward all communications to the County Surveyor's Office, Chicago, 
or Springfield. 

The convention met at the time and place specified, with 
the addition of the following Surveyors not signing the call: 
M. Nelson Buck, Livingston county ; A. G. Chamberlain, Pike 
county; James D. McPherson, M. Gordon, Brown county; A. 
T. Risley, Macon county; Sharon Tyndale, St. Clair county; 
Elijah Smith, Massac county; Thomas King and B. S. Pretty- 
man, Tazewell county; J. R. Herring, Winnebago county; and 
D. A. Spaulding, Madison county. There was also a large 
number of communications from Surveyors who were unable to 
attend. In this convention were a number of men of 
acknowledged ability and experience as Surveyors, such as D. 
A. Spaulding, who had been for many years in the employ- 
ment of the government, both in the field and in the Surveyor 
General's office at St. Louis, he having done a large amount 
of government surveying in this as well as other states; Sharon 
Tyndale, who was for a number of years connected with the 
Coast Survey and was subsequently, in 1864, elected Secretary 
of State for Illinois; Joseph Ledlie, a life-long Surveyor, who 
in company with Charles Manners, of Christian county, ran 
nearly all the principal lines of the Kansas survey; Cortes 



Tessenden, who had been connected with the Burts in the 
public surveys of the mineral and swamp regions of Michigan, 
employed in the public surveys of Dakota, and finally ap- 
pointed Surveyor General of that territory; and others equally 
competent, though perhaps not as well known. 

At this convention, all the subjects that had been consid- 
ered in the previous convention were again gone over. But the 
one of greatest interest, that occupied more time than all the 
rest, and upon which the surveyors appeared to be more firmly 
divided, was whether the recommendations given to County 
Surveyors by the Surveyor General for Illinois and Missouri, 
in his "Manual of Instructions," or those given by Judge Burt, 
in his "Key to the Solar Compass," were correct and should 
govern the surveyors in their surveys. Or, more accurately, 
was the Act of Congress of Feb. 11th, 1805, intended to apply 
to and control all future surveys and subdivisions of the gov- 
ernment lands. After a very long and warm discussion, it was 
finally proposed and agreed to submit the question to some 
able lawyer for his decision. In the selection of the attorney, 
the convention chose Mr. Lincoln, on account of his being a 
practical surveyor as well as a recognized leading member of 
the bar, on the principle that a good lawyer could better in- 
terpret and apply the law to a subject with which he was thor- 
oughly conversant. Accordingly a committee was appointed, 
which waited upon Mr. Lincoln and obtained from him the 
following written opinion, the original of which is in my 
possession: 

The 11th Section of the Act of Congress, approved Feb. 11, 
1805, prescribing rules for the subdivision of sections of land 
within the United States system of surveys, standing unrepealed, 
in my opinion, is binding on the respective purchasers of 
different parts of the same section, and furnishes the true rule 
for surveyors in establishing lines between them. That law, 
being in force at the time each become a purchaser, becomes a 
condition of the purchase. 

And by that law, I think the true rule for dividing into 
quarters, any interior section, or section which is not fractional, 
is to run straight lines through the section from the opposite 



6 

quarter section corners, fixing the point tohere such straight 
lines cross, or intersect each other, as the middle, or center of 
the section. 

Nearly, perhaps quite, all the original surveys are to some 
extent erroneous, and in some of the sections, quite so. In 
each of the latter, it is obvious that a more equitable mode of 
division than the above might be adopted; but as error is 
infinitely various, perhaps no better single rule can be prescribed. 

At all events, I think the above has been prescribed by 

the competent authority. 

A. LINCOLN. 
Springfield, J any. 6, 1859. 

This opinion settled the question in the convention as to 
the controlling authority of the law of 1805. The convention 
also drafted a bill on the subject of surveying and fees, which 
showed more strength in the legislature than the former, yet 
finally shared the same fate. 

Many persons seem to treat doubtingly or lightly the state- 
ment that Mr. Lincoln was a Surveyor; but those old Surveyors, 
such as Mr. Ledlie and others who knew him personally and 
have consulted with him on the subject of surveying, or have 
had occasion to retrace any of his work, will bear witness that 
he was a good practical land Surveyor. 

For the benefit of those who have not had these oportu- 
nities, a fac simile copy of one of his certified plats of survey 
as deputy for T. M. Neale, County Surveyor of Sangamon 
county, is hereto attached. The Sangamon river runs through 
this section, and the section lines in the government survey 
were not extended across but closed on the river, without any 
connection being made between the opposite marginal corners 
or lines, and though shown on the government plats as being- 
continuous straight east or west lines across the river, they 
were in fact surveyed by the government Surveyor as repre- 
sented by Mr. Lincoln's plat. 

This plat of survey is not only interesting as a memento 
of Mr. Lincoln, but also as showing how Illinois lands were 
valued at that date, as indicated by the value of the several 



lots in the school section, as determined by the trustees and 
marked by them on each tract, and at those estimaed values the 
lots were then subject to purchase. 

In conclusion, there is a fact connected with our too-little- 
honored profession of which I think we have some cause to be 
proud — it is, that two of the most illustrious characters in the 
history of the nation and of the world, were in early life 
practical Surveyors. And may we not, with some claim of 
truth, attribute much of their subsequent success in the battle 
of life to that training of their great natural abilities which 
the early practice of surveying gave. Success in surveying, 
necessitates close observation, intelligent investigation, judicious 
weighing of evidence, self-reliance, prompt decision and action. 
The Surveyor in the field has no opportunity to consult 
authorities, to counsel with others, or hold under advisement 
for subsequent adjudication. He must think and act for him- 
self, and that quickly and firmly. In the discharge of his 
duties he combines the three-fold character of attorney, jury 
and judge. Of attorney, in bringing out and collecting the 
evidence; of jury, in determining the facts from the evidence; 
and of judge, in applying the law to the facts so ascertained. 
His will and commands move and control everything con- 
nected with the survey; in fad, he is a little dictator for the 
time being. This habit ' of commanding and being implicitly 
obeyed cultivates and strengthens that self-reliance, firmness of 
purpose and decision of action which are so essentially 
necessary to the accomplishment of all great and important 
undertakings. The constant exercise of this arbitrary power is 
apt to give to ordinary minds (if not carefully watched) an 
over-weening confidence and tenacious adherence to opinions 
once formed that cannot be easily changed or modified, and 
subjects our profession, as a class, to the criticism of being 
self-willed and dogmatical. 

This brief account of the transactions of the Surveyors of 
Illinois may possibly show that while they were later in form- 
ing a permanent organization than the Surveyors in several of 
the other states, they were not much behind, if not the 
pioneers, in convening and considering the subjects for which 
the permanent organizations have been created. 




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